庆元广播

Most Chinese cities have a radio station like this: the broadcast that plays while shopkeepers sweep the pavement and old men play chess under the trees. 庆元广播 is a local station from a mountainous county in Zhejiang, and it's about as far from polished national networks as you can get. The schedule is a mix of news, weather, traditional opera, and pop songs that skew older. You'll hear Mandarin with a regional accent, plus occasional bits of local dialect. It's not trying to impress anyone. That's the charm. Listen to 庆元广播 online and you're hearing the heartbeat of a place many people have nev…